Well I got excited about the cruise on Carnival Triumph Sep 8, 07, and booked my plane tickets independently from carnival, however in all my excitement I made a rookie decision and booked the tickets thinking I wouldn’t need much time between my flight arrival, and the ships departure. I’m reading all these revives and everyone is arriving 12pm and earlier. I'm arriving in Miami at 1:35, and my cruise is at 4pm... Will I make it or will I need to change my flight to an earlier time? Fellow cruisers please advise.

If even your flight arrived on time, and that's an if. You would still be cutting it way too close for my comfort zone. There are some luggage unloading and reloading and transfers and then some unloading and checking in things to happen in that short period.

Change the flight! It ain't worth the stress and great possibility of missing your cruise!

Dave Beers, is one of our Administrators here and one thing we always agree on is even going a day early. I am sure he will have more advice about your situation.

Welcome Aboard!
IslandCruz

Frequencypromos

05-28-2007 12:27 AM

Thank you for the advice, I know its somewhat risky but if I do arrive on time will it be enough time, because it will cost me an extra 260 dollars to change the flight.I lookd at the carnival website, and it said you mus arrive at least 30 min before departure. I guess I have myself in a bit of a pickle. Damn

Thanks

Frequency Promotions

Frequencypromos

05-28-2007 12:51 AM

I just wanted to add what I have found out for some people who may be in a similar fix. I booked my flight through one of the usual .com flight savers, and when I called they informed that a flight change would be 130 dollars a ticket. I found out that even though you book through the .com sitea you can still call the airline that you will be flying with, and change it directl through them.

Jerome

05-28-2007 07:15 AM

we book the air/cruise through carnival all the time, we have allways got at the airport at about 1;30 and everything is ok for us. it costs a little more and we have the ins. for us its just peace of mind knowing they are there waiting.

Frequencypromos... Island Cruz is correct. For future info., always fly in a day ahead, especially if you're connecting through a busy airport. It's less stress and it gives you peace of mind. Hopefully, you can change your tickets without too much cost. Good luck.
A'ndrea

Larry in Miami

05-28-2007 10:30 AM

I would pay the extra money and change the flight. That is cutting things too close.

Dave

05-28-2007 10:43 AM

Frequency,

Welcome to cruise-chat!

I am known as a straight-shooter in my advice. You need to change your flight times. You are assuming everything will be on-time with the flights and that there will be no glitches or delays. One little problem could mess you up.

And since you need to pay the price to rebook, you may as well rebook for the day before the cruise and get a hotel room. This is what we "cruise pros" do. http://cruise-chat.com/groupee_commo.../icon_razz.gif Flying down a day early means flight delays generally won't be a problem. It also means that if luggage was lost it more than likely will be found and delivered to you before the ship leaves. And it also means you only need take a short ride to the pier from the hotel and arrive for your cruise rested and refreshed instead of rushed and frustrated.

TrvlPro

05-28-2007 12:05 PM

Quote:

we book the air/cruise through carnival all the time, we have allways got at the airport at about 1;30 and everything is ok for us. it costs a little more and we have the ins. for us its just peace of mind knowing they are there waiting.

Jerome, your travel insurance, whether purchased with the cruiseline or not will be of no value to your for a flight delay or cancellation if you don't follow the flight guidelines of the cruiseline. Read the policy, you have a policy that is useless for a 1:30 flight.

For a 4:00pm ship departure you need to set inbound flights, in most cases (ships and cruiselines vary slightly) to be on the ground no later than 12:00 noon. You normally need even more time for outbound flights because of disembarkation timeframes.

F, change your flight. You could possibly make it but it's not worth the risk. You risk not only money if you miss the ship, you risk loosing your vacation. I can live without the money but losing my vacation and the money would make me really hard to be around for a while.